Permanent electronic paper

ABSTRACT

An apparatus and method related to rendering substantially permanent aspects of electronic paper.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is related to, claims the earliest availableeffective filing date(s) from (e.g., claims earliest available prioritydates for other than provisional patent applications; claims benefitsunder 35 USC §119(e) for provisional patent applications), andincorporates by reference in its entirety all subject matter of thefollowing listed application(s) (the “Related Applications”) to theextent such subject matter is not inconsistent herewith; the presentapplication also claims the earliest available effective filing date(s)from, and also incorporates by reference in its entirety all subjectmatter of any and all parent, grandparent, great-grandparent, etc.applications of the Related Application(s) to the extent such subjectmatter is not inconsistent herewith. The United States Patent Office(USPTO) has published a notice to the effect that the USPTO's computerprograms require that patent applicants reference both a serial numberand indicate whether an application is a continuation or continuation inpart. The present applicant entity has provided below a specificreference to the application(s) from which priority is being claimed asrecited by statute. Applicant entity understands that the statute isunambiguous in its specific reference language and does not requireeither a serial number or any characterization such as “continuation” or“continuation-in-part.” Notwithstanding the foregoing, applicant entityunderstands that the USPTO's computer programs have certain data entryrequirements, and hence applicant entity is designating the presentapplication as a continuation in part of its parent applications, butexpressly points out that such designations are not to be construed inany way as any type of commentary and/or admission as to whether or notthe present application contains any new matter in addition to thematter of its parent application(s).

RELATED APPLICATIONS

1. For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the presentapplication constitutes a continuation in part of currently U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/040,497 entitled SEMI-PERMANENT ELECTRONICPAPER, naming Edward K. Y. Jung, Royce A. Levien, Mark A. Malamud,Kenneth P. Paley, John D. Rinaldo, Jr. and Clarence T. Tegreene asinventors, filed Jan. 20, 2005 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,643,005.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This application relates to electronic paper.

SUMMARY

Generally and not exclusively, one aspect of an apparatus includes butis not limited to circuitry configurable to render substantiallypermanent data of at least one region of an electronic paper.

In another non-exclusive aspect, a method of using an electronic paperincludes but is not limited to disenabling writing data to at least oneregion of the electronic paper; and making the data substantiallypermanent. In addition to the foregoing, other method aspects aredescribed in the claims, drawings, and text forming a part of thepresent application.

In one or more various aspects, related systems include but are notlimited to circuitry and/or programming for effecting theherein-referenced method aspects; the circuitry and/or programming canbe virtually any combination of hardware, software, and/or firmwareconfigured to effect the herein-referenced method aspects depending uponthe design choices of the system designer.

The foregoing is a summary and thus contains, by necessity,simplifications, generalizations and omissions of detail; consequently,those skilled in the art will appreciate that the summary isillustrative only and is NOT intended to be in any way limiting. Otheraspects, features, and advantages of the devices and/or processesdescribed herein will become apparent in the text set forth herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

Non-limiting and non-exhaustive embodiments are described with referenceto the following figures, wherein like reference numerals refer to likeparts unless otherwise specified. With regard to the described methods,the order of description should not be construed to imply that thesemethods are necessarily order dependent.

FIG. 1 is an embodiment of an illustrative product container havingdisposed thereon an electronic paper label and an embodiment of acoupled circuit disposed thereon to conditionally disenable an entityfrom writing to a specific region of the electronic paper.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an embodiment of an electronic papershowing a circuit to fix a region of the electronic paper from beingfurther written to.

FIG. 3 is a top view diagram of an embodiment of an electronic paperpartitioned into illustrative regions, coupled to a block diagram of anembodiment of a downloading circuit.

FIG. 4 is a top view diagram of an embodiment of an electronic paperpartitioned into illustrative regions, coupled to a block diagram ofanother embodiment of a downloading circuit

FIG. 5 is a top view diagram of an embodiment of an electronic paperpartitioned into illustrative regions, coupled to a block diagram of anembodiment of a circuit to conditionally disenable an entity fromwriting to a specific region of an electronic paper.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a circuit to control thewriting of an image on regions of an electronic paper.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart of an embodiment of a method of using electronicpaper and the actions of a circuit configured to control the writing ofan image on a region of the electronic paper.

FIGS. 8A and 8B are a flow chart of another embodiment of a method ofusing electronic paper and the actions of a circuit configured tocontrol the writing of an image on a region of the electronic paper.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart of yet another embodiment of a method of usingelectronic paper and the actions of a circuit configured to control thewriting of an image on a region of the electronic paper.

FIG. 10 shows a high-level logic flowchart of a process.

FIG. 11 depicts a high-level logic flowchart illustrating alternateimplementations of the process of FIG. 10.

FIG. 12 illustrates a high-level logic flowchart illustrating alternateimplementations of the process of FIG. 10.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown an embodiment of a product container110. A product container 110 may illustratively contain a pharmaceuticalto be provided to a consumer by a drugstore, a foodstuff, a manufacturedproduct, or a communication medium such as a book or a DVD, and mayillustratively be provided by a manufacturer, a wholesaler, a retailer,or a lending entity.

The product container 110 has disposed thereon an electronic paper 120.In an embodiment, the electronic paper 120 may be illustrativelyalternatively disposed on, or attached to, the product. The electronicpaper 120 may function as a label, or some other indicator or source ofinformation associated with the product. The electronic paper hasregions illustratively portrayed as a first region 130, as a secondregion 140, and as a third region 150. In some embodiments, each region130, 140, 150 may be written to by a specific entity. For instance, inan illustrative operation of the electronic paper 120, the first region130 may be written to by a supplier of the product to a vendor, such asby a manufacturing entity or by a wholesaling entity. The second region140 may be written to by a vendor of the product to a consumer, such asby a retailing entity or by a renting entity. The third region 150 maybe written to by a consumer entity or by a purchaser of the productentity. In some embodiments, a region 130, 140, and/or 150 of theelectronic paper 120 may be configured to have a visually distinctappearance from the remainder of the electronic paper. In someembodiments, the visually distinct appearance may be a background hue ofa character written in a pixel of the region. In some embodiments, thevisually distinct appearance may be a visual border of the region.

Some illustrative embodiments of electronic paper may includeindependently addressable and controllable pixels. In some embodiments,each pixel may include a pair of opposed electrodes disposedorthogonally to the surface of the paper. Each pixel may include anelectrophoretic colored ink particle disposed in a region between theelectrodes. When a field is applied between the electrodes, the inkparticle in response migrates toward or away from an electrode, makingthe color of the ink particle visible or not visible to a readerobserving the electronic paper. In some embodiments, each pixel mayinclude a pair of opposed electrodes disposed orthogonally to thesurface of the paper, each having an ink that includes a multicoloredelement. The ink may be configured to be rotatable in response to afield. Upon application of the field between the orthogonally disposedelectrodes, the element will rotate according to the interaction of itsdipole and the polarity of the field, to present a region to the surfaceof the electronic paper visible to a reader observing the electronicpaper. In some embodiments, the electronic paper has ambient lightbehavior, being easier to see the brighter the ambient light. Moreover,in some embodiments the ink is stable in each pixel state so that theelectronic paper consumes substantially little or no power inmaintaining a pixel state.

In some embodiments of operation of the electronic paper 120, in anembodiment in which illustratively the electronic paper 120 is a labelon a product container 110 for containing a pharmaceutical, the firstregion 130 may be for writing by the manufacturing entity and maycontain such information as the potency of the enclosed pharmaceuticaland the contraindications associated with the pharmaceutical. The secondregion 140 may be for writing by a drugstore entity, and may containsuch information as the dosage and the usage instructions associatedwith the pharmaceutical. And the third region 150 may be for writing bya patient entity, and may contain such information as the times at whichthe patient has consumed or is scheduled to consume the pharmaceutical.Thus, in some embodiments each region may be exclusively written to by aspecific entity.

In some embodiments, the electronic paper 120 may be configured toreceive a signal indicating an image to be written on the first region130, the second region 140, and/or the third region 150; and to causethe indicated image to be written on the electronic paper 120. Thesignal is termed herein an image indicating signal.

In some embodiments, the image indicating signal may be illustrativelyformatted to indicate an image corresponding to the respective pixels ofthe electronic paper 120, such as a pixel map, or may be formattedaccording to some other format, such as a page description languagerepresentation format, or a picture editing application representationformat (such as a graphics application format, an image editingapplication format, a painting application format, an illustrationapplication format, a drafting application format, a CAD applicationformat, a diagramming application format, or the like). In someembodiments, the electronic paper 120 may have an associated circuit todecode the image indicating signal, and to address a control signal toeach pixel indicated by the image indicating signal.

In some embodiments, the electronic paper 120 may include pixel addresslines, each able to couple to an external coupling structure 170. Theexternal coupling structure 170 may be configured to transmit the imageindicating signal to the electronic paper 120 by communicating with eachcoupled address line. In this embodiment, the image indicating signalmay include a separate signal for each pixel, transmitted to the properaddress lines by the external coupling structure 170.

Illustratively, in some embodiments, coupled to the electronic paper 120may be a circuit 160 configured to control the writing of an image tothe illustrative regions 130, 140, and 150 of the electronic paper 120.In some embodiments, at least a portion of the circuit 160 may bedisposed on, without, and/or within the electronic paper 120. In someembodiments, the circuit 160 may be disposed on or within the productcontainer 110, or other structure to which the electronic paper 120 isattached. The circuit 160 may be coupled to the electronic paper 120across the external coupling structure 170. The circuit 160 may beconfigured to receive an image indicating signal from an imageindicating signal downloading circuit 180 across another couplingstructure 190. The coupling structure 190 in some embodiments includesillustratively a bus, a wireless connection, and/or a network fortransmitting the image indicating signal from the image indicatingsignal downloading circuit 180 to the circuit 160, or to the electronicpaper 120.

The circuit 160, in some embodiments, may be configured to control thewriting of the image by an entity to at least one of the regions 130,140, and 150, by conditionally disenabling the entity from writing tothe region. As used herein, the term disenabling may include preventingor making something unable to operate; and may include disabling, notgenerating, and the like. In some embodiments, the circuit 160 may beconfigured to disenable an entity from writing to a region of theelectronic paper 120 by not transmitting a received image indication(from the image indicating signal downloading circuit 180) to theelectronic paper 120. Some embodiments of the circuit 160 and theactions it may be configured to perform are described below, as well aswith reference to FIGS. 5, 6, 7A and 7B, and 8 below.

An example of conditional disenabling is to disenable some or allentities from writing to at least one specific region such that one ormore specific entities may write to the specific region. For instance,as described above, each region may to be written to by a definedspecific entity. Illustratively, the first region 130 may be for writingto by a defined manufacturing entity, the second region 140 may be forwriting to by a defined drugstore entity, and the third region 150 maybe for writing to by a patient entity, and other entities may bedisenabled from writing to the regions. For example, a manufacturingentity may be disenabled from writing to the second region 140 and thethird region 150, the drugstore entity may be disenabled from writing tothe first region 130 and the third region 150, and the patient entitymay be disenabled from writing to the first region 130 and the secondregion 140. As another example of conditional disenabling, a specificregion may be disenabled from being written to by specific entities (orequivalently, a specific entity may be disenabled from writing to aspecific region) subject to an occurrence of an event, such as an eventdefined as a region having been written to a specific number of times.In some such embodiments, and other embodiments that depend upon aregion of the electronic paper and/or an entity endeavoring to write tothe region, the circuit 160 may be configured to read from the receivedimage indicating signal an identity of the region to be written toand/or an identity of the entity endeavoring to write to the region, andto transmit an indication of the image to the electronic paper 120 forentities not disenabled from writing to a region. In anotherimplementation, the circuit 160 may be configurable to control thesubstantially permanent writing to a specific region 130, 140, and/or150 of the electronic paper 120 by disenabling an entity from writing toa region subject to the occurrence of the region having been written toa prescribed number of times, such as one time.

In some embodiments, the circuit 160 may be configured to substantiallypermanently write a specific region of the electronic paper 120. Forexample, the circuit 160 may be configured to fix an image in all orpart of the region of the electronic paper 120. Referring to FIG. 2, inan embodiment, the circuit 160 may be configured to generate and send tothe electronic paper 120, or a circuit 220 associated with theelectronic paper 120, a signal indicating the pixels 230 i-230 n (i=1 ton) of the electronic paper 120 to be fixed. In some embodiments, thecircuit 160 may be configured to generate the signal based on anidentity of the region, and/or on an identity of an entity endeavoringto write on the region as described above with reference to FIG. 1. Insome embodiments, the electronic paper 120 may include a circuit 220configured to fix the electronic paper by fixing pixels of a specifiedregion of the electronic paper. Those skilled in the art will appreciatethat although circuits 160 and 220 are shown separated herein for sakeof clarity, and circuit 220 is shown as part of electronic paper 120, inother embodiments circuit 160 and circuit 220 may be combined in oneoverall circuit which can be external from or internal to electronicpaper 120 (e.g., associated with electronic paper 120). In anillustrative implementation, an individual pixel of an electronic paper120 is fixed by controlling the transmission of an image to the pixel.The circuit 220 may be configured to fix the region of the electronicpaper 120 from being written to by illustratively opening thetransmission path to the pixels 230 i-230 n subsequent to informationbeing written thereto (e.g., by circuit 160), so that the informationpreviously written to the pixels 230 i-230 n may be regarded assubstantially permanent. As a specific example of the foregoing, one ormore voltages to be provided to one or more of the pixels 230 i-230 nwould be disabled from being received by one or more of the pixels 230i-230 n.

Exemplary implementations of substantially permanently writing at leastone region of electronic paper are described herein in the context of anillustrative pixel addressing scheme. In an embodiment, informationwritten to at least one pixel may be rendered substantially permanent byopening an input circuit of the pixel. In another illustrativeembodiment, information written to at least one pixel may be renderedsubstantially permanent by closing a circuit to divert a signal formodifying the pixel. And in another embodiment, information written toat least one pixel may be rendered substantially permanent by activatinga switched input of the pixel.

Illustratively in an implementation of substantially permanently writingat least one region of electronic paper, a pixel may be addressed by anactive matrix addressing scheme in which a separately addressedelectrode is provided for each pixel. One implementation in which thepixel may be fixed includes a fuse to control transmission to theelectrode, so if the fuse opens, a transmission to the electrode may bedisabled. Then by controlling the current to the fuse to exceed the fusetransmission limit, the fuse is caused to open and thus the content ofthe pixel is therefore rendered substantially permanent. Similarly in animplementation, an antifuse may be configured so that if the antifusecloses, a transmission to the electrode will bypass the electrode,therefore disabling the transmission from affecting the electrodevoltage, and the thus content of the pixel is therefore renderedsubstantially permanent. Those skilled in the art will appreciate thatthis single pixel example may be replicated such that substantially anydesired pattern displayed by a collection of like configured and/orcontrolled pixels may thus be made substantially permanent. Moreover,illustratively a pixel may be addressed by a passive matrix addressingscheme in which two sets of intersecting conductors, one designated arow conductor and one designated a column conductor, together uniquelysupply a voltage to a given electrode of the pixel. The supplied voltageis the sum of the voltage of the row and the column conductors. Theelectrode is configured to retain the applied voltage. Each row orcolumn voltage is below the threshold to cause an ink to respond to thefield generated by the electrode of the pixel. However, the sum of therow and column voltages exceeds the ink response threshold. This issometimes called a threshold response behavior. One implementation inwhich the pixel may be fixed includes a fuse (or the antifuse) tocontrol transmission to the electrode, so if the fuse opens (or theantifuse closes), a transmission from the intersecting conductors to theelectrode may be disabled. Then by controlling the current to the fuse(or antifuse) to exceed the fuse (or the antifuse) transmission limit,the fuse is caused to open (or the antifuse is caused to close) and thepixel is therefore fixed from being written to. Those skilled in the artwill appreciate that this single pixel example may be replicated suchthat substantially any desired pattern displayed by a collection of likeconfigured and/or controlled pixels may thus be made substantiallypermanent. Moreover, illustratively a pixel may be addressed by a matrixaddressing scheme in which an electrically non-linear element isoperationally disposed between a supply voltage and a pixel electrode toswitch a voltage onto the electrode. In this schema, the switch mayillustratively be disabled from further switching so that the electrodemay retain its supplied voltage. This may be affected by a variety ofschema, depending upon the specific characteristics of the switch.Illustratively, if the switch is embodied as a transistor, the controlcurrent of the transistor may be controlled to disable the transistorfrom supplying the electrode with a switched voltage.

As has been described elsewhere herein, electronic paper itself has dataretention characteristics which allow information written thereto be torendered substantially permanent by effectively disabling further inputto pixels of the electronic paper once the data to be made permanent hasbeen written. In some contemplated implementations, the information maybe rendered yet more permanent by circuit 160 and or 220 (or variouscombinations or permutations thereof within the ambit of those skilledin the art) configurable to fix an image within at least a portion ofthe first region 130 by being configurable to write an image within atleast the portion of the first region and to thereafter establish one ormore assisted non-volatile signal levels to the pixels of the portion ofthe first region 130. In some implementations, the assisted non-volatilesignals are created by applying related art signal maintenancetechniques to one or more of the electronic paper pixels into whichinformation has been loaded (e.g., by applying capacitive storage and/orflash-memory like techniques to the pixels), and thereafter effectivelyrendering further input to the loaded pixels effectively inoperative.Illustrative implementations by which further input to the loaded pixelsis rendered effectively inoperative include fusing circuitry,anti-fusing circuitry, lasing circuitry, an electro-mechanical switch,and/or an electro-mechanical cutting mechanism, but those skilled in theart will recognize that other functionally interchangeable related arttechniques are also applicable. Moreover, in an embodiment the circuitry(e.g., circuits analogous to circuit 160 and/or 220 as describedelsewhere herein) may include write-once circuitry configured to permitone image to be written to the portion of the first region 130. In anembodiment, this includes circuitry configured to make static at least aportion of the first region 130. In an embodiment, this circuitry mayinclude fusing circuitry, lasing circuitry, an electro-mechanicalswitch, an electro-mechanical lead cutting mechanism, and/or circuitryto establish a non-volatile signal level. Both assisted and non-assistednon-volatile signal levels as described herein are contemplated.

Referring now to FIG. 3, in an embodiment, an illustrative electronicpaper 310 includes a finite quantity of defined regions for portrayingan image, 315A through 315XX, here illustratively portrayed as a firstregion 315A, as a second region 315B, and as a third region 315C, andillustratively other regions 315D. In an embodiment, a region 315A,315B, 315C and/or 315D of the electronic paper 310 is configured to havea visually distinct appearance from the remainder of the electronicpaper. In an embodiment, the visually distinct appearance is abackground hue of a character written in a pixel of the region. In anembodiment, the visually distinct appearance is a visual border of theregion.

The electronic paper 310 is configured to receive a signal indicating animage to be written on the first region 315A, an image to be written onthe second region 315B, and/or an image to be written on the thirdregion 315C of the electronic paper 310, termed an image indicatingsignal; and to cause the indicated image to be written on the electronicpaper 310.

In an embodiment, an illustrative downloading circuit 320 is configuredto download the image indicating signal to the electronic paper 310 foran image to be written on the first region 315A, the second region 315B,and/or the third region 315C of the electronic paper 310. Thedownloading circuit 320 may be coupled to the electronic paper 310 byway of a coupling structure 330. The downloading circuit 320 is todownload the image indicating signal across the coupling structure 330to the electronic paper 310. In embodiments, the coupling structure 330may comprise a wireless connection, a bus connection, and/or a networkas well as other structures known in this art to transmit an imageindicating signal from the downloading circuit 320 to the electronicpaper 310. In an embodiment, the downloading circuit 320 includes acircuit 340 to prepare an image indicating signal. In an embodiment, thedownloading circuit 320 further includes a coupling circuit 350 tocouple the circuit 340 to the electronic paper 310, by way of thecoupling structure 330 in a transmitting relationship from thedownloading circuit 320 to the coupling structure 330.

In an embodiment, the downloading circuit 320 includes a circuit 360configured to control the writing of an image to specified regions 315A,315B, and 315C of the electronic paper 310. In an implementation, thedownloading circuit 360 may be configured to control the writing of theimage by an entity to the specified regions, by conditionallydisenabling the entity from writing to a specific region. In animplementation, the conditional disenabling depends upon an identity ofthe region, and/or an identity of the entity. In an implementation, thedownloading circuit 360 is configurable to control the substantiallypermanent writing to a specific region 315A, 315B, and/or 315C of theelectronic paper 310.

In an embodiment, the circuit 360 controls disenabling writing an imageto the specified regions, and substantially making permanent an imagewritten to a region, by disenabling the downloading circuit 320 fromtransmitting the image indicating signal for an image to be written onthe regions 315A, 315B, and/or 315C. The circuit 360 may be configuredto disenable the downloading circuit 320 from transmitting the imageindicating signal for these regions, depending upon criteria such as theentity that is endeavoring to write on the region, the occurrence of anevent, and the identity of the region 315A, 315B, 315C to which anentity is endeavoring to write. Stated in an analogous way, the circuit360 may be configured to disenable the downloading circuit 320 fromtransmitting the image indicating signal for an entity endeavoring towrite on a region depending upon criteria such as an identity of theentity and an identity of the region, and an occurrence of an event. Anembodiment of the circuit 360 and the actions it is configured toperform are furthermore presently described with reference to FIGS. 6,7, 8A and 8B, and 9.

In an implementation, the downloading circuit 320 and/or circuit 360 mayinclude a user interface (not shown) to receive inputs from an entity,the inputs indicating an image to be written on the first region 315A,the second region 315B, and/or the third region 315C, and/or anidentification of the identity of the entity. In an implementation, thecircuit 360 may control the writing of the image to the regions 315A,315B, and 315C by algorithmically determining whether the downloadingcircuit 320 is to include the image in an image indicating signal to bedownloaded to the electronic paper 310. If the downloading circuit 320is to include the image in the image indicating signal, the circuit 360may be configured to transmit an indication of the request by the entityto the circuit 340, so that the downloading circuit 320 can download animage indicating signal for the image(s). In an implementation, if thedownloading circuit 320 is not to include the image in the imageindicating signal, the circuit 360 may be configured to not transmit anindication of the request by the entity to the circuit 340, or anothercircuit in the downloading circuit 320. In another implementation, thecircuit 360 may be configured to transmit an indication that thedownloading circuit 320 is to not download an indication of the image tothe circuit 340 or to another circuit in the downloading circuit 320. Inthis implementation, the downloading circuit 320 may include a userinterface (not shown) to receive inputs indicating an image to bewritten on the first region 315A, the second region 315B, and/or thethird region 315C, and/or an identification of the entity requesting theimage be downloaded by the downloading circuit 320 to the electronicpaper 310, depending upon a receipt of a disenabling signal from thecircuit 360.

In another embodiment, the circuit 360, the circuit 340, or anothercircuit of the downloading circuit 320 may be configured to generate andto send to the electronic paper 310, or a circuit within the electronicpaper 310, a signal indicating the pixels of the electronic paper 310 tobe fixed from being further written to, as described above withreference to FIGS. 1 and 2. In an embodiment, the circuit is configuredto fix the electronic paper 310 based on an identity of the region,and/or on an identity of an entity endeavoring to write on the region

Referring to FIG. 4, in another illustrative embodiment, there isportrayed a downloading circuit 420 to download an image indicatingsignal to the electronic paper 310 across the coupling structure 330.The downloading circuit 420 includes the circuit 340, the couplingcircuit 350, and a circuit 460. The circuit 460 is coupled to thecircuit 340 in an image indicating signal receiving relationship, and tothe coupling circuit 350 in an image indicating signal transmittingrelationship.

The circuit 460 is configured to control the writing of an image tospecified regions 315A, 315B, and 315C of the electronic paper 310. Inan implementation, the circuit 460 may be configured to control thewriting of the image by an entity to the specified regions, byconditionally disenabling the entity from writing to a specific region.In an implementation, the conditional disenabling may depend upon anidentity of the region, the occurrence of an event, and/or an identityof the entity. In an implementation, the circuit 460 is configurable tocontrol the substantially permanent writing to a specific region 315A,315B, and/or 315C of the electronic paper 310.

In an embodiment, the circuit 460 controls disenabling writing an imageto a region, and for substantially making permanent an image written toa region, by disenabling the circuit 420 from transmitting the imageindicating signal for an image to be written on the regions 315A, 315B,and/or 315C. The circuit 460 may be configured to disenable the circuit420 from transmitting the image indicating signal for these regions,depending upon criteria such as the entity that is endeavoring to writeon the region, and the identity of the region 315A, 315B, 315C to whichan entity is endeavoring to write, and an occurrence of an event. Statedin an analogous way, the circuit 460 may be configured to disenable thedownloading circuit 320 from transmitting the image indicating signalfor an entity endeavoring to write on a region depending upon criteriasuch as an identity of the entity, an identity of the region, and/or anoccurrence of an event. An embodiment of the circuit 460 and the actionsit is configured to perform are furthermore presently described withreference to FIGS. 6, 7, 8A and 8B, and 9.

The circuit 460 may be configured to receive an image indicating signalfrom the circuit 340. The circuit 460 may be configured to selectivelydownload the received image indicating signal to the coupling circuit350 for transmission to the electronic paper 310, algorithmicallydepending upon the region to which the image is to be written, theentity requesting that the image be written, and/or an occurrence of anevent. In an implementation, the downloading circuit 420 includes a userinterface (not shown) to receive inputs indicating an entity requestingthat an image be written on the first region 315A, the second region315B, and/or the third region 315C, as well as an identity of theregion, and/or an identity of the requesting entity.

In an embodiment, the circuit 460 may be configured to fix theelectronic paper 310 from writing onto the electronic paper 310, or ontoa specific region 315A, 315B, and/or 315C of the electronic paper 310,an image downloaded to the electronic paper 310. The circuit 460, oranother circuit of the downloading circuit 420, may be configured togenerate and to send to the electronic paper 310, or a circuit withinthe electronic paper 310, a signal indicating the pixels of theelectronic paper 310 to be fixed from being further written to, asdescribed above with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. In an embodiment, thecircuit is configured to fix the electronic paper 310 based on anidentity of the region, and/or on an identity of an entity endeavoringto write on the region

Referring now to FIG. 5, in an embodiment, a downloading circuit 520, inoperation of downloading an image indicating signal for an image to beportrayed on the first region 315A, on the second region 315B, and/or onthe third region 315C of the electronic paper 310, is coupled to theelectronic paper 310 by way of the sequential coupling of the couplingstructure 330, a circuit 560, and a coupling structure 530. Thedownloading circuit 520 is configured to download an image indicatingsignal across the coupling structure 330 to the electronic paper 310. Inembodiments, the coupling structure 530 may comprise a wirelessconnection, a bus connection, and/or a network, as well as otherstructures known in this art to transmit an image indicating signal froma circuit to an electronic paper 310. In an embodiment, the downloadingcircuit 520 is disposed on, along, or within the electronic paper 310,and is not coupled to the electronic paper 310 by the coupling structure530. In an embodiment, the downloading circuit 520 includes the couplingcircuit 350 to prepare an image indicating signal, and the couplingcircuit 350 to couple the downloading circuit 340 to the electronicpaper 310 by way of the coupling structure 330. An illustrative circuit560 is coupled to the coupling structure 330 in a signal receivingrelationship, and coupled to the coupling structure 530 in a signaltransmitting relationship, so that an image indicating signaltransmitted by the downloading circuit 520 is received by the circuit560, and selectively transmitted by the circuit 560 to the electronicpaper 310.

The circuit 560 is configured to control the writing of an image tospecified regions 315A, 315B, and 315C of the electronic paper 310. Inan implementation, the circuit 560 may be configured to control thewriting of the image by an entity to the specified regions, byconditionally disenabling the entity from writing to a specific region.In an implementation, the conditional disenabling may depend upon anidentity of the region, an occurrence of an event, and/or an identity ofthe entity. In an implementation, the circuit 560 may be configurable tocontrol the substantially permanent writing to a specific region 315A,315B, and/or 315C of the electronic paper 310. The circuit 560 isconfigured to disenable the downloading circuit 520 from transmittingthe image indicating signal for these regions, depending upon criteriasuch as the entity that is endeavoring to write on the region, theidentity of the region 315A, 315B, 315C to which an entity isendeavoring to write, and an occurrence of an event.

In an embodiment, the circuit 560 is configured to fix the electronicpaper 310 from writing onto the electronic paper 310, or onto a specificregion 315A, 315B, and/or 315C of the electronic paper 310, an imagedownloaded to the electronic paper 310. The circuit 560, or anothercircuit of the downloading circuit 520, may be configured to generateand to send to the electronic paper 310, or a circuit within theelectronic paper 310, a signal indicating the pixels of the electronicpaper 310 to be fixed from being further written to, as described abovewith reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. In an embodiment, the circuit (notshown) is configured to fix the electronic paper 310 based on anidentity of the region, and/or on an identity of an entity endeavoringto write on the region.

An embodiment of the circuit 560 and the actions it is configured toperform are furthermore presently described with reference to FIGS. 6,7, 8A and 8B, and 9.

Moreover, in an embodiment, the circuit 560 includes a first circuitconfigured to fix an image within at least a portion of the first region315A by being configurable to write an image within at least the portionof the first region and to substantially disenable further input to theat least portion of the first region 130 and/or further writing to thepixels thereof. In embodiments, the first circuit illustrativelyincludes circuitry configurable to establish a non-volatile signal levelto the pixels of the portion of the first region 315A. Illustrativeimplementations include fusing circuitry, anti-fusing circuitry, lasingcircuitry, an electro-mechanical switch, and/or an electro-mechanicalcutting mechanism to disenable writing to the specified portion of thefirst region 315A. Moreover, in an embodiment the first circuit mayinclude write-once circuitry configured to permit only one image to bewritten to the portion of the first region 315A. In an embodiment, thisincludes circuitry configured to make static the at least portion of thefirst region 315A. In an embodiment, this circuitry may include fusingcircuitry, lasing circuitry, an electro-mechanical switch, anelectro-mechanical lead cutting mechanism, and/or circuitry to establisha non-volatile signal level.

The circuit 560 may be configured to disenable the image from beingwritten on the regions 315A, 315B, and/or 315C by selectivelytransmitting a received image indicating signal. The circuit 560 may beconfigured to selectively transmit the image indicating signal dependingupon criteria such as the entity that is endeavoring to write on theregions, the identity of the region 315A, 315B, 315C to which an entityis endeavoring to download an image, and the occurrence of an event.

FIG. 6 portrays an illustrative circuit 660 configured to control thewriting of an image to specific regions of an electronic paper 610.Exemplary embodiments of such a circuit 660 have been described as thecircuit 160 with reference to FIG. 1, as the circuit 360 with referenceto FIG. 3, as the circuit 460 with reference to FIG. 4, and as thecircuit 560 with reference to FIG. 5. The circuit 660 is configured tocontrol the writing of an image to specific regions of the electronicpaper 610 by conditionally disenabling an entity from writing to aregion of the electronic paper 610.

The portrayed circuit 660 may be implemented as a programmed computer,configured to respond to an application program, and having a port tocouple the computer to the electronic paper 610 (in an embodiment) andto an image indicating signal downloading circuit 620 (in anembodiment). Exemplary embodiments of an image indicating signaldownloading circuit have been described as the image indicating signaldownloading circuit 180 with reference to FIG. 1, as the downloadingcircuit 320 with reference to FIG. 3, as the circuit 420 with referenceto FIG. 4, and as the downloading circuit 520 with reference to FIG. 5.It is specifically contemplated that other embodiments of the circuit660 may be implemented in whole or in part by finite state circuitry.

Referring to FIG. 6, the circuit 660 includes a memory 640, and aprocessor unit 615. The memory 640 is to store an application program644, and data 646 for use by the circuit 660, or to be generated by theprocessor unit 615 in executing the application program 644. Theapplication program 644 describes an algorithm to be executed by thecircuit 660 in performing the described functions of the circuit 660.Embodiments of the algorithm are illustratively described below withreference to FIGS. 7, 8A and 8B, and 9. The memory unit 640 in anembodiment includes a volatile RAM memory portion, as well as anon-volatile memory portion for storing the application program 644.Though the application program 644 may be stored in the non-volatilememory portion, the application program 644 may be executed from thevolatile RAM portion after being written into the volatile RAM portion.

The processor unit 615 includes one or more processors, each capable ofgenerally executing program instructions on data and specificallyexecuting the application program 644. In an embodiment, the processorunit 615 and the memory 640, are incorporated in a general purposecomputer system, such as in a server system, a personal computer, a mainframe system, a mid-range system, and a client system. In anotherembodiment, the processor unit 615 and the memory 640 compose a standalone dedicated computer system such as an embedded computer system anda point-of-sale system.

FIGS. 7, 8A-8B, and 9 describe respective embodiments of a method 700,800, and 900 to use electronic paper. The methods 700, 800, and 900 alsodescribe an algorithm embodied in the application program 644. In anembodiment, in support of the method 700, 800, and 900, a flag or otherdevice may be maintained to indicate whether a specific entity haswritten to a specific region of the electronic paper, so that knowledgeof whether an entity has written to a specified region is obtained byreading the flag. Moreover, in an embodiment the identity of a specifiedentity, and/or a region may be determined and maintained by way of aninput from a user interface. Furthermore, in an embodiment, the identityof a specified entity and/or region may be downloaded to the circuit 660(or other circuit of the downloading circuit 620). In an embodiment inwhich an image indicating signal is downloaded to the circuit 660, theimage indicating signal may include a field to indicate the identity ofthe entity endeavoring to write to the electronic paper, and the circuit660 may be configured to read the field.

Referring now to FIG. 7, an embodiment of method 700 to conditionallydisenable an entity from writing to a specific region of an electronicpaper is portrayed. In the method 700, the disenabling depends upon anidentity of the region and/or an identity of the entity. The methodincludes in block 710, disenabling writing to a first region of anelectronic paper after a first entity has written an image on theregion. An embodiment of the method includes an action of determiningwhether the first entity has already written to the first region, basedon whether a circuit has downloaded an image to be written to the firstregion from the first entity by way of the circuit 560. In anembodiment, the action includes providing an identity of the firstregion and the first entity to an image indicating signal downloadingcircuit or a coupling circuit, to disenable the downloading of the imageindicating signal for the image to the electronic paper. In anotherembodiment, the action includes receiving the image indicating signalfrom the downloading circuit, or the coupling circuit, and nottransmitting the signal to the electronic paper if the image is for thefirst region and written by the first entity.

In block 720, the method includes writing on a second region of thepaper if the writing entity is a specific second entity. As describedwith reference to block 710, in embodiments, the circuit 660 is todetermine whether an entity is endeavoring to write to a specifiedregion of the electronic paper. If the entity endeavoring to write tothe second region is not the second entity, in one embodiment the imageindicating signal is disenabled from being downloaded to the electronicpaper. In another embodiment, the image indicating signal is downloadedto the circuit 660, but the circuit 660 does not download the signal tothe electronic paper.

In an embodiment, the method 700 includes in block 730, writing to athird region of the paper if the writing entity is a specific thirdentity. As described with reference to block 710, in embodiments thecircuit is to determine whether an entity is endeavoring to write on aspecified region of the electronic paper. If the entity endeavoring towrite on the third region is not the third entity, in one embodiment theimage indicating signal is disenabled from being downloaded to theelectronic paper. In another embodiment, the image indicating signal isdownloaded to the circuit, but the circuit does not download the signalto the electronic paper.

As described with reference to FIG. 1, in embodiments in which theelectronic paper is associated with a product, such as being attached tothe product or attached to a package of the product, the second entitymay be a vendor of the product, the third entity may be a purchaser ofthe product, and/or the first entity may be a provider of the product toa vendor of the product, such as a manufacturer of the product or adistributor or publisher of the product.

Moreover, in an embodiment, the disenabling writing action describedwith reference to block 710 includes disenabling writing to the firstregion if the first entity has already written a specific number ofimages to the first region, such as a unitary number of images, or ifthe image written by the first entity to the first region is identifiedas a last image to be written by the first entity to the first region.Thus, if an image written by the first entity to the first region is notidentified as the last image to be written on the first region, thefirst entity is not necessarily disabled from writing to the firstregion. In an embodiment, therefore, the writing to a first region ofthe electronic paper is substantially permanent, and the circuit 660 isconfigurable to substantially permanently write to a first region of theelectronic paper, because entities are disenabled from writing to thefirst region. Moreover, in an embodiment the disenabling writing actiondescribed with reference to block 710 is executed only after anoccurrence of event, such as only after a specific entity, such as afirst entity, a second entity, and/or a third entity, indicates theevent. In an embodiment, an event may be a specific quantity of timesthat the first region has been written to.

Referring now to FIGS. 8A and 8B, an embodiment of method 800 toconditionally disenable an entity from writing to a specific region ofan electronic paper is portrayed. The method 800 includes in block 810determining whether an image is to be written on a first region (or apart thereof) of an electronic paper, and if so, whether criteria todetermine whether the image is to be written to the first region (or apart thereof) are satisfied. Such criteria may include in an embodiment,the occurrence or non-occurrence of an event. Illustrative sources of anevent may be an input from a user interface, a datum indicating anevent, or an algorithmic determination of an event. In embodiments, theevent may include an image having already been written (or downloaded)to the first region a specified number of times such as one time, and/orwritten to the first region since a specified date; and/or whether aspecified entity has written (or downloaded) an image to the firstregion a specified number of times, and/or written to the first regionsince a specified date. For these illustrative events, theirnon-occurrence indicates the satisfaction of the criteria to write tothe first region or a part thereof). If the image is to be written tothe first region (or a part thereof) of the electronic paper and thecriteria have been satisfied, the YES branch is taken from block 810 toblock 820. In block 820 the method includes enabling the image to bewritten to the first region (or a part thereof). If the image is to bewritten to the first region (or a part thereof) and the criterion havenot been satisfied, the NO branch is taken from block 810 to block 830.In block 830, the method includes disenabling the image from beingwritten to the first region (or a part thereof). In an embodimenttherefore, the action of block 830 includes substantially permanentlywriting to a first region (or a part thereof) of the electronic paper,and the circuit 660 is configurable to substantially permanently writeto a first region (or a part thereof) of an electronic paper, bydisenabling writing to the first region (or a part thereof). Inperforming the actions of blocks 810, 820, and 830, circuitry isconfigurable to fix an image within at last a part of the first regionby being configurable to write an image within at least a part of thefirst region, and to substantially disenable further input to the atleast a part of the first region.

In block 840 the method 800 includes determining whether an image is tobe written on a second region of the electronic paper is from an entityauthorized to write on the second region. If an image is to be writtenon a second region and is from an entity authorized to write on thesecond region, then the YES branch is taken from block 840 and themethod includes in block 850 enabling the image to be written to thesecond region. If an image is to be written on the second region and isnot from an entity authorized to write on the second region, then the NObranch is taken from block 840 and the method includes in block 860disenabling the image from being written to the second region. Themethod 800 therefore includes not enabling writing to the second regionexcept by an authorized entity. In an embodiment, the method 800moreover includes in block 870 determining whether an image is to bewritten on a third region of the electronic paper is from an entityauthorized to write on the third region. If an image is to be written ona third region and is from an entity authorized to write on the thirdregion, then the YES branch is taken from block 870 and the methodincludes in block 880 enabling the image to be written to the secondregion. If an image is to be written on the third region and is not froman entity authorized to write on the third region, then the NO branch istaken from block 870 and the method includes in block 890 disenablingthe image from being written to the second region. The method 800therefore includes not enabling writing to the third region except by anauthorized entity.

As described with reference to FIG. 1, in embodiments in which theelectronic paper is associated with a product, such as being attached tothe product or attached to a package of the product, the entityauthorized to write on the second region may be a vendor of the product,the entity authorized to write on the third region may be a purchaser ofthe product, and/or the entity authorized to write to the first regionmay be a provider of the product to a vendor of the product, such as amanufacturer of the product or a distributor or publisher of theproduct. In embodiments that depend upon a region of the electronicpaper and an identity of an entity endeavoring to write to the region,the circuit 160 may be configured to read from the received imageindicating signal an identity of the region to be written to, and anidentity of the entity endeavoring to write to the region, and totransmit an indication of the image to the electronic paper 120 forentities enabled to write to a region.

Referring to FIG. 9, an embodiment of a method 900 includes in block 910determining whether an image is to be written to a first region of anelectronic paper, and in block 920 determining whether a specific eventhas occurred. As described with respect to FIGS. 7 and 8A-8B, such anevent may include a specific entity endeavoring to write on the region,an image already having been written to the region, and the entityhaving already written an image to the region a specified number oftimes, such as one time. If an image is to be written to a region and aspecific event has occurred, the YES branch is taken from block 930, andin block 940 an action includes disenabling writing the image to thefirst region.

In an embodiment, the method 900 includes determining if the image is tobe written to a specific other region and is from a specific entity. Ifthe image is to be written to the other region and is not from thespecific entity, the method 900 includes disenabling writing the imageto the other region.

Following are a series of flowcharts depicting implementations ofprocesses. For ease of understanding, the flowcharts are organized suchthat the initial flowcharts present implementations via an overall “bigpicture” viewpoint and thereafter the following flowcharts presentalternate implementations and/or expansions of the “big picture”flowcharts as either sub-steps or additional steps building on one ormore earlier-presented flowcharts. Those having skill in the art willappreciate that the style of presentation utilized herein (e.g.,beginning with a presentation of a flowchart(s) presenting an overallview and thereafter providing additions to and/or further details insubsequent flowcharts) generally allows for a rapid and easyunderstanding of the various process implementations.

Referring to FIG. 10, shown is a high-level logic flowchart of aprocess. Method step 1000 depicts the start of the process. Method step1002 illustrates writing data to at least one region of the electronicpaper. For example, circuit 160 and/or 220 (or various combinations orpermutations thereof within the ambit of those skilled in the art)writing a content to one or more pixels of electronic paper 120 (see,e.g., FIG. 2). Method step 1004 illustrates making the datasubstantially permanent. For example, circuit 160 and/or circuit 220 (orvarious combinations or permutations thereof within the ambit of thoseskilled in the art) activating a mechanism such that a pattern loaded toelectronic paper 120 is substantially unmodifiable (see, e.g., FIG. 2).Method step 1006 shows the end of the process.

Referring to FIG. 11, depicted is a high-level logic flowchartillustrating alternate implementations of the process of FIG. 10. Shownis that in some implementations, method step 1000 may include methodstep 1100 which depicts activating at least a portion of the electronicpaper. For example, circuit 160 and/or 220 (or various combinations orpermutations thereof within the ambit of those skilled in the art)energizing one or more pixels of electronic paper 120 such that adesired pattern, such as forming text and/or an image, is formed on thepaper (see, e.g., FIG. 2). Depicted is that in some implementations,method step 1100 may include method step 1102 which depicts activatingone or more pixels having an ink configured to rotate in response to afield. For example, circuit 160 and/or 220 (or various combinations orpermutations thereof within the ambit of those skilled in the art)energizing one or more pixels of electronic paper 120 utilizingelectrophoretic and/or electrically and/or magnetically responsive ink(see, e.g., FIG. 2). Illustrated is that in some implementations, methodstep 1100 may include method step 1104 which depicts activating at leastone electrically responsive pixel. For example, circuit 160 and/or 220(or various combinations or permutations thereof within the ambit ofthose skilled in the art) energizing one or more pixels of electronicpaper 120 utilizing electricity (see, e.g., FIG. 2). The remainingmethod steps function as shown and or described herein.

Referring to FIG. 12, illustrated is a high-level logic flowchartillustrating alternate implementations of the process of FIG. 10. Shownis that in some implementations, method step 1004 may include methodstep 1200 which depicts at least one of fusing, anti-fusing, lasing,switching, or cutting at least one input driving a display mechanism ofthe electronic paper. For example, circuit 160 and/or 220 (or variouscombinations or permutations thereof within the ambit of those skilledin the art) activating a fuse, anti-fuse, laser, switch, or cuttingmechanism respectively associated with circuitry driving one or morepixels of electronic paper 120 (see FIG. 2). Depicted is that in someimplementations, method step 1004 may include method step 1202 whichdepicts activating non-volatile signal circuitry. For example, circuit160 and/or 220 (or various combinations or permutations thereof withinthe ambit of those skilled in the art) energizing one or more pixels ofelectronic paper 120 (see FIG. 2). Illustrated is that in someimplementations, method step 1202 may include method step 1204 whichdepicts activating assisted non-volatile signal circuitry. Depicted isthat in some implementations, method step 1204 may include method steps1206-08. Method step 1206 illustrates charging a retention-assistcircuitry. For example, circuit 160 and/or 220 (or various combinationsor permutations thereof within the ambit of those skilled in the art)charging retention-assist circuitry (e.g., capacitive and/orflash-memory like circuitry) respectively associated with one or morepixels of electronic paper 120 (see FIG. 2). Method step 1208 showsengaging in at least one of fusing, anti-fusing, lasing, switching, orcutting at least one input of the retention-assist circuitry. Forexample, circuit 160 and/or 220 (or various combinations or permutationsthereof within the ambit of those skilled in the art) activating a fuse,anti-fuse, laser, switch, or cutting mechanism respectively associatedwith circuitry driving retention-assist circuitry respectivelyassociated with one or more pixels of electronic paper 120 (see FIG. 2).The remaining method steps function as shown and or described herein.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the foregoing specificexemplary processes and/or devices and/or technologies arerepresentative of more general processes and/or devices and/ortechnologies taught elsewhere herein, such as in the claims filedherewith and/or elsewhere in the present application.

Those having skill in the art will recognize that the state of the arthas progressed to the point where there is little distinction leftbetween hardware and software implementations of aspects of systems; theuse of hardware or software is generally (but not always, in that incertain contexts the choice between hardware and software can becomesignificant) a design choice representing cost vs. efficiency tradeoffs.Those having skill in the art will appreciate that there are variousvehicles by which processes and/or systems and/or other technologiesdescribed herein can be effected (e.g., hardware, software, and/orfirmware), and that the preferred vehicle will vary with the context inwhich the processes and/or systems and/or other technologies aredeployed. For example, if an implementer determines that speed andaccuracy are paramount, the implementer may opt for a mainly hardwareand/or firmware vehicle; alternatively, if flexibility is paramount, theimplementer may opt for a mainly software implementation; or, yet againalternatively, the implementer may opt for some combination of hardware,software, and/or firmware. Hence, there are several possible vehicles bywhich the processes and/or devices and/or other technologies describedherein may be effected, none of which is inherently superior to theother in that any vehicle to be utilized is a choice dependent upon thecontext in which the vehicle will be deployed and the specific concerns(e.g., speed, flexibility, or predictability) of the implementer, any ofwhich may vary. Those skilled in the art will recognize that opticalaspects of implementations will typically employ optically-orientedhardware, software, and or firmware. The foregoing detailed descriptionhas set forth various embodiments of the devices and/or processes viathe use of block diagrams, flowcharts, and/or examples. Insofar as suchblock diagrams, flowcharts, and/or examples contain one or morefunctions and/or operations, it will be understood by those within theart that each function and/or operation within such block diagrams,flowcharts, or examples can be implemented, individually and/orcollectively, by a wide range of hardware, software, firmware, orvirtually any combination thereof. In one embodiment, several portionsof the subject matter described herein may be implemented viaApplication Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Field ProgrammableGate Arrays (FPGAs), digital signal processors (DSPs), or otherintegrated formats. However, those skilled in the art will recognizethat some aspects of the embodiments disclosed herein, in whole or inpart, can be equivalently implemented in standard integrated circuits,as one or more computer programs running on one or more computers (e.g.,as one or more programs running on one or more computer systems), as oneor more programs running on one or more processors (e.g., as one or moreprograms running on one or more microprocessors), as firmware, or asvirtually any combination thereof, and that designing the circuitryand/or writing the code for the software and or firmware would be wellwithin the skill of one of skill in the art in light of this disclosure.In addition, those skilled in the art will appreciate that themechanisms of the subject matter described herein are capable of beingdistributed as a program product in a variety of forms, and that anillustrative embodiment of the subject matter described herein appliesequally regardless of the particular type of signal bearing media usedto actually carry out the distribution. Examples of a signal bearingmedia include, but are not limited to, the following: recordable typemedia such as floppy disks, hard disk drives, CD ROMs, digital tape, andcomputer memory; and transmission type media such as digital and analogcommunication links using TDM or IP based communication links (e.g.,packet links).

In a general sense, those skilled in the art will recognize that thevarious aspects described herein which can be implemented, individuallyand/or collectively, by a wide range of hardware, software, firmware, orany combination thereof can be viewed as being composed of various typesof “electrical circuitry.” Consequently, as used herein “electricalcircuitry” includes, but is not limited to, electrical circuitry havingat least one discrete electrical circuit, electrical circuitry having atleast one integrated circuit, electrical circuitry having at least oneapplication specific integrated circuit, electrical circuitry forming ageneral purpose computing device configured by a computer program (e.g.,a general purpose computer configured by a computer program which atleast partially carries out processes and/or devices described herein,or a microprocessor configured by a computer program which at leastpartially carries out processes and/or devices described herein),electrical circuitry forming a memory device (e.g., forms of randomaccess memory), and/or electrical circuitry forming a communicationsdevice (e.g., a modem, communications switch, or optical-electricalequipment).

Those skilled in the art will recognize that it is common within the artto describe devices and/or processes in the fashion set forth herein,and thereafter use standard engineering practices to integrate suchdescribed devices and/or processes into data processing systems. Thatis, at least a portion of the devices and/or processes described hereincan be integrated into a data processing system via a reasonable amountof experimentation. Those having skill in the art will recognize that atypical data processing system generally includes one or more of asystem unit housing, a video display device, a memory such as volatileand non-volatile memory, processors such as microprocessors and digitalsignal processors, computational entities such as operating systems,drivers, graphical user interfaces, and applications programs, one ormore interaction devices, such as a touch pad or screen, and/or controlsystems including feedback loops and control motors (e.g., feedback forsensing position and/or velocity; control motors for moving and/oradjusting components and/or quantities). A typical data processingsystem may be implemented utilizing any suitable commercially availablecomponents, such as those typically found in datacomputing/communication and/or network computing/communication systems.

All of the above U.S. patents, U.S. patent application publications,U.S. patent applications, foreign patents, foreign patent applicationsand non-patent publications referred to in this specification and/orlisted in any Application Data Sheet are incorporated herein byreference, in their entireties, to the extent that such texts/drawingsare not inconsistent with herewith.

The herein described aspects depict different components containedwithin, or connected with, different other components. It is to beunderstood that such depicted architectures are merely exemplary, andthat in fact many other architectures can be implemented which achievethe same functionality. In a conceptual sense, any arrangement ofcomponents to achieve the same functionality is effectively “associated”such that the desired functionality is achieved. Hence, any twocomponents herein combined to achieve a particular functionality can beseen as “associated with” each other such that the desired functionalityis achieved, irrespective of architectures or intermedial components.Likewise, any two components so associated can also be viewed as being“operably connected”, or “operably coupled”, to each other to achievethe desired functionality, and any two components capable of being soassociated can also be viewed as being “operably couplable”, to eachother to achieve the desired functionality. Specific examples ofoperably couplable include but are not limited to physically mateableand/or physically interacting components and/or wirelessly interactableand/or wirelessly interacting components and/or logically interactingand/or logically interactable components.

While particular aspects of the present subject matter described hereinhave been shown and described, it will be apparent to those skilled inthe art that, based upon the teachings herein, changes and modificationsmay be made without departing from the subject matter described hereinand its broader aspects and, therefore, the appended claims are toencompass within their scope all such changes and modifications as arewithin the true spirit and scope of this subject matter describedherein. Furthermore, it is to be understood that the invention isdefined by the appended claims. It will be understood by those withinthe art that, in general, terms used herein, and especially in theappended claims (e.g., bodies of the appended claims) are generallyintended as “open” terms (e.g., the term “including” should beinterpreted as “including but not limited to,” the term “having” shouldbe interpreted as “having at least,” the term “includes” should beinterpreted as “includes but is not limited to,” etc.). It will befurther understood by those within the art that if a specific number ofan introduced claim recitation is intended, such an intent will beexplicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence of such recitationno such intent is present. For example, as an aid to understanding, thefollowing appended claims may contain usage of the introductory phrases“at least one” and “one or more” to introduce claim recitations.However, the use of such phrases should not be construed to imply thatthe introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinite articles “a” or“an” limits any particular claim containing such introduced claimrecitation to inventions containing only one such recitation, even whenthe same claim includes the introductory phrases “one or more” or “atleast one” and indefinite articles such as “a” or “an” (e.g., “a” and/or“an” should typically be interpreted to mean “at least one” or “one ormore”); the same holds true for the use of definite articles used tointroduce claim recitations. In addition, even if a specific number ofan introduced claim recitation is explicitly recited, those skilled inthe art will recognize that such recitation should typically beinterpreted to mean at least the recited number (e.g., the barerecitation of “two recitations,” without other modifiers, typicallymeans at least two recitations, or two or more recitations).Furthermore, in those instances where a convention analogous to “atleast one of A, B, and C, etc.” is used, in general such a constructionis intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understandthe convention (e.g., “a system having at least one of A, B, and C”would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone,C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A,B, and C together, etc.). In those instances where a conventionanalogous to “at least one of A, B, or C, etc.” is used, in general sucha construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the artwould understand the convention (e.g., “a system having at least one ofA, B, or C” would include but not be limited to systems that have Aalone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and Ctogether, and/or A, B, and C together, etc.).

It is further understood that as used herein, writing to, on, and ontoan electronic paper each may have the same meaning; and writing to, on,and onto a region of the electronic paper each may have the samemeaning.

1. An apparatus comprising: circuitry configured to write data within atleast part of at least one region of an electronic paper; and circuitryconfigured to render substantially permanent the data of the at leastone region of the electronic paper by conditionally effectivelypermanently disabling further input to the at least one region formingthe data by determining whether data has been written to the at leastone region one time and, in response to data being written to the atleast one region one time, disenabling further input to the at least oneregion by substantially permanently disenabling all signal pathways forproviding data to the at least one region by using at least one offusing circuitry, anti-fusing circuitry, lasing circuitry, anelectro-mechanical switch, or an electro-mechanical cutting mechanism.2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising: circuitry configured toestablish at least one non-volatile signal level.
 3. The apparatus ofclaim 1, further comprising: circuitry configured to establish at leastone assisted non-volatile signal level.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1,further comprising: circuitry configured for diverting at least onesignal.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising: circuitryconfigured for blocking at least one signal.
 6. The apparatus of claim1, further comprising: at least one switch that controls input of atleast one signal.
 7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least aportion of the circuitry is disposed on and/or within the electronicpaper.
 8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the electronic paper isoperably couplable to at least one structure and at least a portion ofthe circuitry is disposed on and/or within the structure.
 9. Theapparatus of claim 1, further comprising: circuitry configured formaking substantially static one or more pixels of the at least oneregion of the electronic paper.
 10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein atleast a part of the at least one region of the electronic paper isconfigured to have at least one visually distinct appearance from aremainder of the electronic paper.
 11. The apparatus of claim 1, whereinthe electronic paper includes one or more pixels having at least oneelectrophoretic ink particle disposed in at least one region betweenelectrodes.
 12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the electronic paperincludes one or more pixels having at least one rotatable multicoloredelement configured to rotate in response to at least one field.
 13. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein the circuitry configured to write datawithin at least part of at least one region of an electronic papercomprises: circuitry configured to write data within at least part of atleast one region of an electronic paper only for a first specifiedentity.
 14. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the circuitry configuredfor making substantially static one or more pixels of the at least oneregion of the electronic paper comprises: circuitry configured toestablish at least one non-volatile signal level.
 15. The apparatus ofclaim 9 wherein the circuitry configured for making substantially staticone or more pixels of the at least one region of the electronic papercomprises: circuitry configured to establish at least one assistednon-volatile signal level.
 16. The apparatus of claim 9, furthercomprising: circuitry configured for diverting at least one signal. 17.The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising: circuitry configured forblocking at least one signal.
 18. The apparatus of claim 9, furthercomprising: at least one switch that controls input of at least onesignal.
 19. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the visually distinctappearance includes at least one background hue of at least onecharacter.
 20. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the visually distinctappearance includes at least one visual border of the at least oneregion.
 21. A method of using an electronic paper comprising: writingdata to at least one region of the electronic paper; and conditionallymaking the data permanent, including conditionally effectivelypermanently disabling further input to the at least one region formingthe data by determining whether data has been written to the at leastone region one time and, in response to data being written to the atleast one region one time, disenabling further input to the at least oneregion by substantially permanently disenabling all signal pathways forproviding data to the at least one region by using at least one offusing circuitry, anti-fusing circuitry, lasing circuitry, anelectro-mechanical switch, or an electro-mechanical cutting mechanism.22. The method of claim 21, wherein the writing data to at least oneregion of the electronic paper comprises: activating at least a portionof the electronic paper.
 23. The method of claim 21, further comprising:activating non-volatile signal circuitry.
 24. The method of claim 21,wherein the electronic paper is attachable to at least one product. 25.The method of claim 22, wherein the activating at least a portion of theelectronic paper comprises: activating one or more pixels having inkconfigured to rotate in response to at least one field.
 26. The methodof claim 22, wherein the activating at least a portion of the electronicpaper comprises: activating at least one electrically responsive pixel.27. The method of claim 23, wherein the activating non-volatile signalcircuitry comprises: activating assisted non-volatile signal circuitry.28. A system comprising: means for writing data to at least one regionof electronic paper; and means for conditionally making the datapermanent, including conditionally effectively permanently disablingfurther input to the at least one region forming the data by determiningwhether data has been written to the at least one region one time and,in response to data being written to the at least one region one time,disenabling further input to the at least one region by substantiallypermanently disenabling all signal pathways for providing data to the atleast one region by using at least one of fusing circuitry, anti-fusingcircuitry, lasing circuitry, an electro-mechanical switch, or anelectro-mechanical cutting mechanism.
 29. The apparatus of claim 13,further comprising: circuitry configured to write data within at leastpart of at least a second region of the electronic paper; and circuitryconfigured to render substantially permanent the data of the at leastthe second region of the electronic paper by conditionally effectivelypermanently disabling further input.
 30. The apparatus of claim 29,wherein the circuitry configured to write data within at least part ofat least a second region of the electronic paper comprises: circuitryconfigured to write data within at least part of at least a secondregion of the electronic paper only for a second specified entity. 31.The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the first specified entity isdifferent from the second specified entity.
 32. The apparatus of claim31, wherein entity identity is received via at least one user interfaceand/or as part of at least one data indicating signal.